In past columns, the focus of our discussions has been primarily on maritime incidents such as collisions, allisions and groundings in which U.S. Coast Guard-licensed deck and engineering officers were subject to marine investigations and negligence changes, potentially leading to the dreaded “letter of complaint” against your U.S. Coast Guard issued credential(s) or endorsement(s). This month, we examine a grounding case in which indeed a 46 CFR 5.29 negligence complaint filing was made against the involved master requiring a vigorous license defense. What made this case different than most was the fact that because the charged master was serving as a pilot (independent contractor) at the time of the incident…